in 1992
in NewMexico
Oilandgasdiscouery
wellsdrilled
NM87801
F.Eroadhead,
Resources,
Socono,
byBonald
NewMexico
Bureau
andMineral
of Mines
Introduction
Fewer wells were drilled for oil and gas
in New Mexico in1992 than in L99L.Data
obtained from the New Mexico Oil ConservationDivision indicate1,110wells were
completed in 1992, down 327ofrom the
1.624wells drilled in 1991.In the Permian
Basin, southeast New Mexico, 736 wells
were completed in 1992,down from 889
completionsin 1991;507wells were completed as oil producersand 128wells were
completedas gasproducerswhile 101wells
were plugged and abandoned, resulting
in a successrate of 86Vo.ln the SanJuan
Basin, northwest New Mexico, 374wells
were completed in 1992,down from 735
completions in 1991;41 wells were completed as oil producers while 298 wells
were completedas gas producersand 35
wells were plugged and abandoned,resulting in a successrate of 9'l,Va.
Total footageof new holesdrilled lr:.1992
was4.717 million ft, down2SVofrom6.522
million ft drilled in 1991.The averagedepth
per well drilled in 1992was 4,249 ft, 233
ft more than the average well drilled in
1991.
During L992,there was significant frontier exploratory activity in the Tucumcari
Basin, the Jornadadel Muerto of eastSocorro County, and along the west margin
of the Permian Basin. Exploratory wells
were drilled in all three areas.
For purposesof this report, a signit'icant
wildcatdiscoueryis defined asa well in which
commercial amounts of oil or gas were
discoveredin a shatigraphicunit more than
5 mi from the limits of previously discovered pools with commercial production
from that stratigraphic unit. A significant
uildcat dry hole is defined as a dry hole
that was drilled in a not-yet-productive
basin or a part of a basin and in which
petroleum reservoirswere evaluated.The
locations of significant wildcat wells that
were completedin 1992are shown in Fig.
1. Table 1 summarizes the significant
wildcat discoveries, and Table 2 summarizes the significant wildcat dry holes. Table 3 summarizeswildcat and development
wells in which horizontal drilling took
place in L992.Table lists other significant
wildcat wells that were being drilled, were
not completed,or were held "tight" at the
end of 1.991.
Eachwell is designatedby a number in
parentheses that refers to its location in
Fig. 1 and its description in Tables1, 2,
3, or 4.
Southeast New Mexico
Drilling activity decreasedin 1992in the
three geologic subdivisions of the Permian Basin: the Delaware Basin, the Central Basin platform, and the Northwest
shelf. Twelve significant wildcat discov-
SanJuan
Basln
Sleffa
Grande
r.rpl!ft
Ralon
Basln
$ar: j*rln
il0lfer
lifti*fi
*-a-
ifl*s I
t,ql
i!'1f,!-i.inlrly
ldo:a
ola
n
DJ
14
{J{qqy
C TucJmcarl
GuedaliiFs Basln
-**
i.laiv*rr
'-ltl
-
Rot
I
efia!"("'$
i
ilorlhwsst
shelf
L
hdtly
1O
L
H Significantgas discovery
O Significantoil discovery
I A WagonMoundgas pool
I B Newkirkoil pool
I C SantaRosatarsands
I D BlackNo.1 Ferrillwell
g Significantdry hole with
oil and gas show
+
Signilicantdry hole
O Significantwildcatwell
drilling,not completed,"tight",
or plannedat end of 1990
FIGURE l-Significant oil and gas discoveries,frontier wildcat wells, and horizontal wells drilled
in New Mexico during 1992.Major geologic featuresare from Broadheadand King (1988),Cather
and fohnson (1984),Kelley (1978),Kottlowski and Stewart (1970),Meyer (1956),Molenaar (1977),
Thompson and facka (1981.),and Woodward et al. (1978).
eries were made in the Permian Basin in
1992 (Fig. 1, nos. 1-12; Table 1.,nos. 112). New Mexico Bureau of Mines and
M i n e r a l R e s o u r c e se t a l . ( 1 9 9 3 ) a n d
McKamey et al. (1988)presented strati
graphic charts of oil- and gas-producing
rock units in southeast New Mexico, as
well as geologic and engineering summaries of oil and gas pools.
Eight significant wildcat discoverieswere
made in the Delaware Basin during 1992
(1-5, 8-10). Oil was discoveredin basinal
Brushy Canyon sandstones of the Delaware Mountain Group (Permian) in the
Nearburg Production No. 1 Diamond 31
State (5). Oil was found in allochthonous
basinal sediments of the Bone Spring Formation (Permian) in the Enron Oil and
Gas No. 1 Vaca 13 Federal(10). Oil was
discovered in San Andres carbonates
(Permian) in the Yates Petroleum No. 5
Mimosa AHS Federal (1) and in the Yates
Petroleum No. 1 Eidson Ranch Unit (8).
Oil was discovered in the Grayburg Formation (Permian) in the Pogo Producing
No. I Buffalo Federal (9). Gas was discovered in Upper Pennsylvanian carbonates in the Collins and Ware No. 1 Muley
Federal (4). Gas was also found in Strawn
carbonates(Middle Pennsylvanian)in the
NansMexia Geology November 1993
TABLE l-Significant wildcat discoveriesin New Mexico in 7992;the term formation is used in an informal sense.BOPD, bbls oil per day; MCFPD,
thousand ft3 gas per day; BWPD, bbls water per day; IP4 initial potential flowing; IPP, initial potential pumping; IPCAOE initial potential calculated
absolute open flow; owwo, old well worked over.
Nunber
on
Fig. 1
Location
(6ection-townshiprange, county)
Operator,
well number,
and lease
Completion
Total
Fomation
depth
(ft)
at
total depth
3,592
Drinkard
(Permian)
San Andres
(Permian)
10,355
Bamett
(Mississippian)
Strawn
(Pennsylvanian)
9,082-9,088
IPCAOF 2,320
MCFPD
lt92
10,920
Monow
(Pennsylvanian)
Strawn
(Pennsylvanian)
8,662-9,638
IPF 320 MCFPD
11.192
11,540
Morrow
UpperPennsylvanian
(Pennsylvanian)
9,580-9,690
IPCAOF 1,269
MCFPD
5,082-5,110
IPP 30 BOPD
+5 MCFPD
+132 BWPD
date
(mo/yr)
Producint
Producing
forution
interyal
(ft)
Initial
potential
5-205-24E,
Eddy
YatesPeholeum
No. 5 Mimosa AHS
Federal (owwo)
9-2rS-24E,
Eddy
BarbaraFasken
No. 1 Skelly Federal
(owwo)
9-235-24E,
Eddy
YatesPetroleum
No. 1 Azotea AJZ
Federal
26-235-25E,
Eddy
Collins & Ware
No. 1 Muley Federal
37-245-29E,
Eddy
Nearburg Production
No. 1 Damond 31 State
1,192
9,000
Bone Spring
(Permian)
Brushy Canyon
(Permian)
Bright & Co.
No. 1 Apache
1.t92
1.2,231,
Devonian
Devonian
12,201,-72,231. IPF 257 BOPD
+25 BWPD
Mississippian
10,558-10,590 IPCAOF 1,070
MCFPD
5-9S-34E,
Lea
6192
1.305-1.390 IPP 4 BOPD
1r-11S-32E,
Lea
WOG, Inc.
No. 1 State (owwo)
1.0,632 Mississippian
5-155-33E,
Lea
YatesPetroleum
No. 1 Eidson Ranch Unit
13,650
11-195-338,
Lea
Pogo Producing
No. 1 Buffalo Federal
(owwo)
13,450 Mississippian
10
13-25S-33E,
Lea
Enron O & G
No. 1 Vaca 13 Federal
15,948
Monow
(Pennsylvanian)
Bone Spring
(Permian)
l1
4-45-20E,
Chaves
2,725
Abo
(Permian)
Abo
(Permian)
2,514-2,524
IPF 108MCFPD
t2
26-25-29E,
Roosevelt
Marshall Pipe & Supply
No. 1 Soltenberg
(owwo)
t0t92
7,290
Montoya
(Ordovician)
San Andres
(Permian)
2,9202,930
IPCAOF 584 MCFPD
13-20N-6W
McKinley
Merrion O & G
No. 1 Chaco Wash
tz92
6,036
Entrada
(Jurassic)
Gallup
(Cretaceous)
3,794-j,860
IPF 20 MCFPD
+1BWPD
McKay Oil
No. 1 April State
Barbara Fasken No. 1 Skelly Federal (2)
and in the YatesPetroleum No. L Azotea
AIZ Federal(3).
Both oil and gas reservoirswere targets
of exploratory drilling in the DelawareBasin during 1992. The main targets for oil
exploration were deep-basinsandstones
of the lower parts of the Delaware Mountain Group (Permian):the Brushy Canyon
Formation and the Cherrv Canvon Formation. Four DelawareMountain discoveries were made in Eddy Counf, 13 were
made in Lea Countv, and one of the 17,
the Nearburg Production No. L Diamond
31 State (5), was significant as defined in
this report; some discoverieswere extensions of existing pools while others discovered new pools within 5 mi of existing
pools. Other targets for oil exploration were
Devonian carbonates/ Strawn, Canyon,
and Cisco carbonates (Middle-Upper
Pennsylvanian), and Wolfcampian (Lower
Permian) carbonates.Exploratory drilling
for natural gas was concentrated mostly
in Morrowan (Pennsylvanian) sandstones.
Development drilling in the Delaware
Basin was predominantly for oil during
November 7993 Nao Mexico Geology
Morrow
(Pennsylvanian)
Oil gravity
(degrees API)
34.9
47
San Andres
(Permian)
5,714-5,725
IPP 29 BOPD
+4,580 MCFPD
28.4
Grayburg
(Permian)
4,939-4,948
IPP 6 BOPD
+5 MCFPD
+80 BWPD
35.7
t992. As with exploratory drilling, the primary targetswere shallow (4,000-6,000ft)
Delaware Mountain sandstones;approximately 130 development wells were successfully completed in Delaware
sandstones during 1992. Activity was
widespread, with significant numbers of
wells drilled in the Lost Tank, Herradura
Bend East, Cabin Lake, Livingston Ridge,
Livingston Ridge East, Loving East, Sand
Dunes West, Young North, Lusk East,and
Ingle Wells pools. Other major targets of
development drilling for oil were the
moderately deep (6,000-10,000ft) basinal
Bone Spring (Permian) carbonates, the
deep (10,000-11,000f0 Wolfcampian (Permian) carbonates,and the moderatelydeep
(7,000-10,000ft) Middle and Upper Pennsylvanian (Strawn, Cisco-Canyon) carbonates.Canyon and Ciscoreservoirswere
intensively developed in the Dagger Draw
North and Dagger Draw South pools of
northwest Eddy County. More than 40
wells were drilled in these two reservoirs
by Conoco and YatesPetroleumCorp. The
intensive development in the Dagger Draw
North and Dagger Draw South pools has
been aimed at producing oil that was by-
72,230-12,356 IPF 129 BOPD
+2OOMCFPD
passed by existing wells; development in
the past two years resulted in a 38% production increase during 1992, fuom 5.893
MMBO (million bbls oil) in t997 to 8.132
MMBO in t992. Morrowan and Atokan
(Lower Pennsylvanian) clastics were the
main targets for gas development drilling
in the Delaware Basin during 1992, but
development of gas reservoirs was slow.
No significant wildcat discoverieswere
made on the Central Basin platform during 1992.Limited exploratory drilling for
oil in Blinebry and San Andres (Permian)
carbonates took place, however. Development drilling was mostly for oil in the
shallow (2,000-5,000ft) San Andres and
Grayburg Formations (Permian). There
was limited development of gasreservoirs
in the Queen, Seven Rivers, and Yates
Formations (Permian).
Three significant wildcat discoveries
were made on the Northwest shelfin 1992.
On the south part of the shelf, oil was
discovered in Devonian shata in the Bright
No. 1 Apache (5). Gas was found in Mississippian carbonates in the WOG, Inc.
No. 1 State (7). On the north part of the
shelf, gas was discoveredin Abo red beds
DST,
TABLE 2-significant wildcat dry holes in New Mexico in I92; the term formation is used in an informal sense. D&A, dry and abandoned;
drill-stem test; perf, perforated; MCFPD, thousand fP gas per day.
Number
on
Fig. r
Operator,
well number,
and le6e
Location
(section-township-
rante, county)
Completion
Total
Forution
date
(mo/yr)
depth
(ft)
at
total depth
Tenison Oil
No. 1 Stansberry-Cox
1292
27-55-35F,
Roosevelt
Strata Production
No. 1 Askew
11/92
27-19N-5W,
McKinley
High Plains Petroleum
No. L Mammoth Federal
12t92
29-13N-33E,
Quay
1,550
2,030
Comment6
Glorieta
(Permian)
D&A
Drilled to test San Andres and Glorieta
(Permian).
Devonian
D&A
DST 7,788-7,925ft (Devonian) "Tight" hole'
Mancos
(Cretaceous)
D&A
Per( 7,470-1',478ft (Menefee), flowed 150
MCFPD + oil.
Pefi 1,478-1.,481ft(Menefee),flowed oil
+ sas + mud
TABLE 3-Wells drilled in New Mexico in 1992witha significant horizontal deviation. (The amount of horizontal drilling is indicate.dby t-hedifference
between the total depth and the true vertical depth.) T"heterm formation is used in an informal sense.D&A,_dry andabandoned; perf, Perforated;
BOPD, bbls oil pu. duy; MCFPD, thousand ft'gas per day; BWPD, bbls water per day; tP, initial Potential; lPP, initial Potential pumping'
Number
on
Fig. 1
Location
(section-tomshipran8e, county,
Op€rator,
well number,
and les€
Completion
dat€
(mo/yr)
Total
depth
(fr)
True
v€ilical depth
(ft)
Obiective
formation
Comments
oil
Pefi 4,559-6,582ft
(Niobrara); IPP 43 BOPD
+168 MCFPD
+18 BWPD
Pefi 5,958-7,862ft
(Niobrara); IPP 323 BOPD
6,632
4,852
Niobrara
Puerto Chiquito West
(Mancos)
(Cretaceous)
7,862
6,688
Puerto Chiquito West
(Mancos)
Niobrara
(Cretaceous)
oil
7t92
5,026
2,728
Puerto Chiquito
(Mancos)
East
Niobrara
(Cretaceous)
D&A
70t92
4,245
2,412
Puerto Chiquito
(Mancos)
East
Niobrara
(Cretaceous)
oil
Pefi 2,L04-4,201tt
(Niobrara); IP not rePorted.
Benson-Montin-Greer
No. 8 Canada Ojitos
Unit
u92
8,851
6,998
Puerto Chiquito West
(Mancos)
Niobrara
(Cretaceous)
oil
Pefi 7,347-8,855ft
(Niobrara); IP 2 BOPD
+ 250 MCFPD
33-24N-1W,
Rio Aniba
KLMO&G
No. 33-1 Browning Federal
4t92
7,590
8,050
6,658
6,768
Puerto Chiquito
(Mancos)
West
Niobrara
(Cretaceous)
D&A
Drilled 2 sidetrack horizontal
holes. TestedPoint Lookout
(Cretaceous)and Niobrara
(Cretaceous);recovered no
fluid.
35-21N-2W,
Sandoval
Bright & Co.
No. 1 Cuba Mesa
7192
4,886
4,255
Rio Puerco
(Mancos)
Mancos
(Cretaceous)
oil
Perf 4,390-4,886ft (Mancos);
IPP 210 BOPD + 43 MCFPD
+ 181BWPD.
5-20N-2W
Sandoval
Veteran Exploration
No. 14 Johnson 5
Rio Puerco
(Mancos)
Mancos
(Cretaceous)
oil
"Tight" hole.
2-27N-lW,
Rio Aniba
AmericanHunter
Exploration
No. 2A-1 Jicarilla
3-27N-1W
Rio Aniba
AmericanHunter
Exploration
No. 3F-1licarilla
5-27N-1E,
Rio Aniba
American Hunter
Exploration
No. 6,{-1 Jicarilla
8-27N-1E,
Rio Aniba
American Hunter
Exploration
No. 8I-1 Jicarilla
16-25N-1W
Rio Aniba
(Permian) in the McKay Oil No. 1 April
State(11).
Exploration activity was limited on the
Northwest shelf during 1992.Exploratory
wells were drilled mainly for gas in Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, and Cisco (Upper Pennsylvanian)
carbonates.On the westmost part of the
shelf, two wells were scheduled to be
drilled by JamesC. Thompson (25,26) to
test lower Paleozoic strata at the end of
1992.
Development drilling on the Northwest
shelf was slow during 1992.Drilling was
concentratedon gasreservoirsin the shalIow (2,000-4,000 ft) Abo red beds (Permian) of northwest Chaves County and
on oil reservoirs in the shallow (2,0006,000 f0 Paddock and San Andres reservoirs (Permian) of south Chaves County
and north Eddy and north Lea Counties.
Development of Paddockand SanAndres
1192
r7t92
6,232
Tested 2,426-5,026 ft
(Niobrara) open hole
TABLE 4-significant wildcat wells that were being drilled, not completed, "ti9ht," or planned in
New Mexico at the end of 1992.
Number
on
FiB,1
24
Location
(s€ction-townshiprange, county)
Operator,
well number,
and lease
Comm€nts
Mountain StatesPetroleum
No. 1 Hattie Lary
Stratigraphic test. "Tight" hole. Scheduled to drill
to 3,2-00it. Pennsylvaniansection believed to be
main obiective.
28-165-r78,
Chaves
JamesC. Thompson
No. 1 Federal A-28
Scheduledto ddll to 4,700 tt ao Ellenburger.
3-175-17E,
Chaves
JamesC. Thompson
No. 1 State A-3
Scheduledto drill to 5,300ft to Ellenburger.
71.-25-68,
Socono
reservoirs was esPecially strong in the
Lovington and Lovington West Pools'
There-was limited development of Devonian reservoirs in the Lone Wolf South
and Chisum pools.
The Rooseveltuplift and adjacent areas
were drilled sparsely during L992. One
significant wildcat discovery was made;
the Marshall Pipe & Supply No. 1 Soltenburg (12) was recomPletedas a small gas
discbverv in the San Andres Formation
(Permiair) after having unsuccessfully
tested the Ordovician and Pennsylvanian
sections in 1986. In central Roosevelt
New MexicoGeologY November 193
County, the StrataProductionNo. 1 Askew
(15) tested Devonian strata, but information was held "tigh('at the end oIlW2.
Development drilling in the Roosevelt
upli{t areawas minimal in7992. Only eight
wells were drilled. Targetswere carbonate
reservoirs in the CisceCanyon (Upper
Pennsylvanian) and San Andres (Permian) sections.
Northwest New Mexico
, Drilling activity decreasedmarkedly
during 1992 in northwest New Mexico.
Only 374 wells were drilled, a decreaseof
497ofrom the 735wells drilled during 1991.
All drilling was in the SanJuan Basin and
was dominated by developmentof coalbed
methane in the Fruitland Formation (Cretaceous).
Exploratory drilling resulted in one significant discovery in1992. Gas was found
in the Gallup sandstone (Cretaceous)in
the Merrion Oil and GasNo. 1 ChacoWash
(13).The well is approtmately 15mi south
of the main Gallup producing trend. Other
exploratory efforts concentrated on finding new oil reservesduring 1992.New
pool discoveriesand pool extensionswere
made in the Dakota and Gallup sandstones(Cretaceous).
Gasdiscoverieswere
made in Dakota, Gallup, Mesaverde,and
Pictured Cliffs sandstonesand in the
Chacra producing interval of the Lewis
Shale (Cretaceous).One exploratory well,
the High Plains PetroleumNo. l.-Mammoth Federal (27), was drilled in the
southmost part of the San Juan Basin;it
was abandoned without establishingproduction after recovering gas and live oil
from the Menefee Formation (Cretaceous). Hoppe (1992)recently discussed
hydrocarbon potential of the Pictured
Cliffs, Fruitland, and Oio Alamo Formations in the northeastSanJuanBasin.
Most development drilling in the San
|uan Basin during 7992 was for shallow
(approximately 2,000ft) coalbedmethane
in the Fruitland Formation (Cretaceous).
A total of 237Fruitland wells were drilled.
only two of which were plugged and
abandoned. The Basin (Fruitlandl coalbed
methane pool has been extensivelydeveloped in the last few years to ta(e advantage of Federaltax ciedits on coalbed
methane production. Kelso et al. (1988)
estimated that the total gas containedin
Fruitland coal beds in the San Juan Basin
is 50 tlillion ft3 (TCF); most of that gas is
in the New Mexico part of the basin, but
the most prolific coal beds appear to be
concentratedmainly in the Coloradopart
of the basin. Similarly, Ayers and Ambrose (1990)estimated a total volume of
Fruitland gas between 43 and 49 TCF. It
is not known what percentageof the gas
is recoverable under current economic
conditions with currently employed technology, but this reservoirrepresentsa majo_raddition to the state'sgis supplies. In
lll2, the Basin (Fruitlandlpool pioduced
357 BCF, 47% of the gas produced from
November 193
Nm Mexiu Gmlogy
the San Juan Basin and 29% of the gas
produced from New Mexico. Production
from the Basin (Fruitland) pool increased
5t7o dwing 1992 from the 222 BCF produced during 1991.Whitehead(1991)and
Bland (1992) summarized coalbed methane in the Fruitland.
Development drilling for gas in reservoirs other than the Fruitland was sluggish in 1992. Almost 30 gas wells were
completed in the Dakota Sandstone(Cretaceous)in Rio Arriba and SanJuanCounties. Lessernumbers of developmentgas
wells were completed in Gallup, Mesaverde, and Pictured Cliffs sandstones
(Cretaceous).
Development drilling for oil was subordinate to development drilling for gas.
Only 41 oil wells were completed in the
San |uan Basin during 1992, a 28Vo decreasefrom the 57wells completedduring
1991. Gallup sandstonereservoirswere
the main targets with most drilling in the
Bisti and South Bisti pools of San |uan
County. There was also development of
oil reservoirs in Dakota, Hospah, Point
Lookout, and Menefee sandstones(Cretaceous).
Eight wells drilled in the SanJuan Basin
during 1992with a significanthorizontal
deviation are listed in Table3. Six of those
wells (16-21) were drilled to test fractured
Niobrara shale (Cretaceous)in the East
Puerto Chiquito and West Puerto Chiquito pools. Four of those wells (16, 17,
19,20) were successfullycompletedas oil
producers. To the south in the Rio Puerco
Mancos pool, two wells (22,23)with horizontal deviation were completed as oil
producers in fractured Mancos shale(Cretaceous).
Northeast New Mexico
Relatively little, but nevertheless significant, petroleum exploration took place
in northeast New Mexico during 1992.One
exploratory test was drilled in the Tucumcari Basin. The Newkirk heavyoilpool
was abandoned.Planswere made to produce hydrocarbons from the Santa Rosa
tar sands with a novel thermal recoverv
technique.
Petroleum has not been produced commercially in northeast New Mexico except
from relatively small and isolated oper-ations. In the 1970s,marginally commercial amounts of gas were produced from
the Morrison Formation (jurassic)and the
Dakota Sandstone(Cretaceous)at the currently inactive WagonMound pool in Mora
County (Fig. 1, letter A). Sincethe 1980s,
the Newkirk pool (Fig. 1, letter B) hasproduced 597 bbls heavy oil from sandstone
in the Santa Rosa Formation (Triassic);a
pilot steamflood operation aided production during the mid-1980s. AllZ?wells in
the Newkirk pool were plugged during
1992; those wells were unable to sustain
economic production with the conventional recovery techniquesemployed. In
the 1930s,apfrofmately 153,0b0ions of
tar sand were quarried from the SantaRosa
Formation near the town of SantaRosain
Guadalupe County (Gorman and Robeck,
1946;Fig. 1, letter C); the tar sands were
used for road-surfacing material in New
Mexico and neighboring states. In south
Santa Fe County, the Black Oil No. 1 Ferrill (Fig. 1, letter D) has produced 728bbls
oil from the Niobrara and lower Mancos
shales (Cretaceous) since the well was
drilled in 1985.In the Raton Basin, a pilot
project initiated by Pennzoil has produced gas from coalbed methane reservoirs in the Vermejo Formation
(Cretaceous);development and commercial production are on hold until the natural gas market improves. The Gas
ResearchInstitute (1988)and Close and
Dutcher (1990) discussed coalbed methane in the RatonBasin
Elsewhere in northeast New Mexico,
CO, gas is produced from the Bravo dome
field of south Union and east Harding
Counties. The COz is used primarily for
enhanced oil recovery in the Permian Basin. Small quantities of CO, were produced from the Des Moines field of
northwest Union County from 1935until
1966.
One exploratory well was drilled in the
Tucumcari Basin during 1992. The Tenison Oil Co. No. 1 Stansberry-Cox(14)was
drilled on the northeast margin of the basin to test San Andres carbonatesand the
Glorieta Sandstone(Permian:Leonardian).
No shows were reported,but the well did
not penetratethe deeperWolfcampianand
Pennsylvanian sections, which are primary exploration targets in the basin
(Broadhead and King, 1988; Broadhead,
1e90).
Elsewhere in the Tucumcari Basin,
ForefrontVentures,Loumic Resources,and
partners announced initiation of a project
for in situ recovery of heavy oil from the
SantaRosa tar sands. A novel thermal recovery technique will be used to produce
the heavy oil. This technique involves
placing downhole microwave transmitters in shallow boreholes.Microwaveswill
mobilize the oil by heating it. A pilot project consistingof four bor:1.-l;; will commence operations during 1993. If oil is
recovered economicallt additional wells
will be drilled.
Finally, leasing activity in the Tucumcari Basin continued during 1992,but at
a diminished rate from the previous two
years. During the October stateleasesale,
Lucille Pipkin bid successfullyon 160acres
of StateTrust Land in north Quay County.
SouthwestNew Mexico
One petroleum exploration well was
drilled in southwest New Mexico during
1992. ln east Socorro Countv, the Mountain States Petroleum No. i Hattie Lacy
(24) was drilled as a stratigraphic test on
an anticline on the eastside of the fornada
del Muerto. The well is considered"tight"
but was scheduled to be drilled to 3,200
ft. The Pennsylvanian section is believed
to be the main objective. At least one additional stratigraphic test may be drilled
in the area during 1993.
No other wells were drilled in southwest New Mexico during 1992.Considerablepetroleum potential existsin several
basins, however, including the Tularosa
Basin (King and Harder, 1985),the Pedregosa Basin (Thompson, 198L;Thompson and Jacka, 1981),and the BacaBasin
(Wengerd, 1959;Foster, 1.964;Woodward
and Grant, 1985;Broadheadand Black,
1989).
140
35
120 .g
330
'i
;-€
1 o oB "
so g5
25
3t zo
. P6
o@
F=
oo€!
t5
FE ro
40.E-
es
202
E
b
0
0
aPSsgE
Esf ! :agg
EE$EFgEags'i8g
Ef;EFg€egs"83
--+-1992-J
F-1990-+-1ssl
FIGURE 2-Average monthly crude oil price and number of active rotary drillin8_rigs in New
Mexico during 199'0,1991,and 1992.Dati from New Mexico Taxation and RevenueDept. and Oil
Production and economics
and Gas fournal (1990,1997,7992).
In 1997, New Mexico was the seventh
largestproducer of crude oil and the fourth
140
largest producer of natural gas in the
120e
United States (Energy Information Ado
6
ministration, 1992).Production of crude
E
b
1 o oB "
>
=
oil and lease condensatein 7992was ap6-9
IE
80 .96
proximately 70.8million bbls, an increase z *
>z
of 0.57% from the 70.4 million bbls produced during 1991(New Mexico Oil Conoc
40 .E'R g 1.00
servation Division data). Production of
!!t
9E
natural gas in 1992 was 7,246 billion fP
202
(BCF),an increaseof 22Vofrom the 1,019
0
of the
BCFproducedin 1991.In1,992,93Vo
gas
were
state'soil and 39% of the state's
produced from the PermianBasinand ad1es2--------+]
+1+--1ssl -l-sso-F--r
;'oining areas of southeastNew Mexico;
FIGURE 3-Average monthly natural gas price and number of active rotary drilling rigs in New
7Voof the state's oil and 61.%of the state's
Mexico during 199b, 1997,aid.1992. DZta irom New Mexico Taxation and RevenueDept. and Oil
gas were produced from the SanJuanBaand Gas Journal (7990,1991,1992).
sin of northwest New Mexico.
As of December31, 1991,New Mexico
had proved crude oil reservesoI72l mlIMexico will increaseif favorableeconomic
TABLE S-State oil and gas production taxes
lion bbls (Energy Information Adminisand royalties collected in 1992. Data from New
changes lead to increaseddrilling and intration, 1992);the Permian Basin contains
Mexico Taxation and Revenue Dept., Oil and
creased implementation of enhanced re967oof the state'sproved oil reservesand
Gas Accounting Division.
covery techniques. Oil production will
the San Juan Basin contains 4Voof the
decreise if economic changes are unfastate's proved oil reserves.Additionally,
Amount collected
vorable. Sustainedlow oil prices will lead
New Mexico had proved reserves of 68
in
1992
Tax or royalty
to decreased exploration for, and develmillion bbls of lease condensate (Energy
o p m e n t o f , n e w r e s e r v e s .F e w e r e n $108,976,723
Information Administration, 1992); 74Vo Severance tax
97,r62,9ffi
hlnced recovery projects will be started
School tax
of the condensatereservesare in the San
29,5U,007
tax
Ad
valorem
in older oil reservoirs. Production will
Juan Basinand26Voof the condensatere5,212,808
Conservation tax
therefore decreasegradually unlessprices
serves are in the Permian Basin. Further700,203,024
Royalty from state trust land
rise moderately or unless a maior discovmore, there are an additional 275 million
TOTAL
$33s,139,530 ery is made.
bbls of crude oil reservesin existing resThe increase in natural gas production
ervoirs that may be economically recovin 1992 was caused by an increased demillion from oil and gas taxes and from
erable through implementation of existing
mand for gas, as well as by increasedproenhanced-recoverytechnology (Energy
oil and gas royalties on state trust land.
ductive capacity.Productive capacityrose
Information Administration, 1992);700Vo In addition, New Mexico received apprimarily ls a result of extensive develof
its
as
share
the
Permian
Basin.
million
of those reservesare in
proximately $111
opment of coalbed methane reservoirs in
As of December 31, 1991, New Mexico
ievenues from leaseson federal lands in
the San fuan Basin. Primary markets for
had proved natural gas reservesof 19.8 the state; this value includes bonuses,
New Mexico gas are in Califomia, but New
TCF (Energy Information Administration,
royalties, and rentals derived from leases
Mexico gas faces stiff competition there
1992);t!r.eSan fuan Basin contains 82% of
and production of oil, gas, and coal.
from fuel oil, Wyoming gas,and imported
the state's proved gas reservesand the
The decreasein oil production during
subsidizedCanadiangas.Natural gas may
Permian Basincontains18%of the state's 1992 resulted mostly from a decreasein
replace fuel oil in many markets because
proved gas reserves.
oil prices.The averagesalesprice of crude
it il a more environmentally desirable fuel.
The estimated value of oil produced in
oil decreased from $19.28/bblin 1991 to
The average wellhead price of New
New Mexico during 1992 was approf$18.29lbbl in t992 (Fig. 2). The decrease
Mexico gas in1992 was $1.62llvICF,an inrnately $1.3 billion (New Mexico Oil Conin oil prices resulted in decreaseddrilling
creasefrom the averageprice of $1.4ZMCF
servation Division data). The estimated activity; as a result, new oil sourceswere
in 1991. The average gas price reached a
value of produced gas was approximately
not developed quickly enough to replace
maximum of $2.29l1vICFin October 1992
waning production from older wells. AIso,
$2.0 billion. The state derives a large
(Fig. 3). The increasein gaspricesduring
amount of revenuesfrom taxesand roythe lower prices did not provide incentive
1.992was a nationwide Phenomenon
altieslevied on oil and gasproduction (Tato maintain maximum production from
(Koen, 1993). The price increase in t992
ble 5). In 1.992,New Mexico received$335
some older wells. Oil production in New
gs
*gg
?PFs! Ee3! ;eggi 3FsI E
E$! laggipFs EEs3g:ag€
Na;
Mexico Geology
November
1993
Cather, S M., and Johnson, B D., 7gg4,Eocenetec_
to,nicsand depositional setting of west-centralNew
Mexico and eastern Arizona:\ew Mexico Bureau
of Mines and Mineral Resources,Circular 192, 33
PP.
Close, J C., and Dutcher, R. R, 1990,prediction of
permeability trends and origins in coal-bed meth_
ane reservoirs of the Raton Basin, New Mexico and
(!l-qrgy Information Administration,
1993). Growth will be most p-o.ro.rr,""d
in the industrial and electric utilities sec_
tors of the gas market. Demand is ex_
pected to increase another 2.0Voto 20.7g
TCF during 1994.Demand for New Mex_
ico gas may increase if the North Amer_
ican FreeTrade,Agreementis signed,and
additional markeis for U.S. ga-sare de_
veloped in the industrial areis of north
Mexico.
AcrNowrrpcMENre-prentiss Childs of
the New Mexico Oil Conservation Divi_
sion provided the well completion statis_
tics. Roy ]ohnson reviewed the
manuscript. Lynne Hemenway ffied the
manuscript, and fan Thomas drifted the
illustrations.
energyoutlook, quarterlyproiections,first ouarter
lD3: U.S..Depaitment'oi Energy, Energy'Information Adminishation, Report D6fLFJl:.bZOZ(gZt
1Q), 30 pp.
Foste.r,R. W..,
]gU,Stratigraphy and peholeumpossibifities of Catron County,New Mexico: New Mex_
ico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources,Buletin
85, 55 pp.
Thompson, S, ilI, 1981, Petroleum source rocks in
exploration wells drilled to Paleozoic or Mesozoic
units. Hidalgo and Grant counties, New Mexico:
New Mexico Energy Institute, Report EMD-2-563306, l2O pp ; New Mexico Bureau of Mines and
Open-file Rept. 153, 126pp.
_Mineral Re-sources,
Thompson, S., III, and Jacka,A. D., 1981,pennsylvanian stratigraphy, petrography, and petroleum
geology of the Big Hatchet Peak section, Hidalso
County, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureauof Min-es
and Mineral Resources,Circular 176, 125pp.
Wengerd, S. A., 1959,Regional geology as rbiated to
the petroleum potential of the Lucero region, westcentral New Mexico: New Mexico Geological Society, Guidebook to 10th Field Conference,pp. 121134.
Whitehead, N. H., III, 1991, Coal-bed methane in
New Mexico: New Mexico Geology, v. 13, no. 4,
pp. 82-88.
Woodward, L. A., Callender, J. F., Seager,W. R.,
Chapin, C. E., Gries, J. C., Shaffer, W. L., and
Zilinski, R E., 1978,Tectonicmap of the Rio Grande
rift region in New Mexico, Chihuahua, and Texas;
in llawley, J. W. (compiler),Guidebookto Rio Grande
rift in New Mexico and Colorado:New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources,Circular 163.
sheet2
Woodward, L A., and Grant, P. R., 1986, Centralwestem New Mexico-an exploration frontier for
oil md gas: New Mefco GeologicalSociety,Guidebook to 37th Field Conference, pp. 3f74i4.
D
References
ilewMexico
Geological
Society
1994SpilngMeeting
Callfor papers
Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources,
Circular 198, 35 pp.
Koen, A..D., 1993,'U.S.gas industry seessigns of
-Gas
end to lengthy downtum: Oil and
Jourial, v.
91.,no.2, pp. t2-'16.
Kottfowski, F.'E.,and Stewilt, W. J.,.1970,The Wolfcampian Joyita uplift in central New Mexico: New
Mexico Bureau oJ Mines and Mineral Resources,
Memoir 23, pt. I, pp. l-31.
McKamey,-K.E., et it., ISSA,A symposiumof the oil
and gas fields of southeasternNew-Mexico:Roswell
Geological Society, 1988 symposium supplement,
rro Pp.
Meyer, R. F:, l9&: Geology of pennsylvanian and
Wolfcampian rocks in souiheastNew'Mexico: New
Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources,
Memoir 1Z 123 pp.
Molenaar,C..M., lgn,stratigraphy and depositional
history of Upper Cretaceois rocicsof thesan
Juan
Basin area, with a note on economicresources:ilew
Mexico GeologicalSociety,Guidebook to 2gth Field
Conference, pp. 159-156.
New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources
et al., 1993,Atlas of maior Rockv Mountain sas
'Mines
reseryoirs: New Meico Bureau of
and UIn_
November 1993 New Mexico Gmlogy
The annual spring meeting will
be held on Friddy, dpril8, 19F,4,
at
Macey Center on ihe c;mpus of New
Mexico Tech in Socorro. Talks that
focus on the geology of New Mexico
or adjacentareasare being solicited
for oral and poster preaentation.
Camera-ready abstractsmust be re-
eligible). Abstractsshould be mailed
to Andrew Campbell, Geoscience
Dept., New Mexico Tech, Socorro,
NM 87801 (505/835-5327).Meeting
programs and registration forms will
be mailed in early March. For registration information, contact Glenn
fones, New Mexico Bureauof Mines
and Mineral Resources,Socorro,NM
87801 (505/835-5243).For general
information, contact general chairpersonsAndrew Campbellor Nelia
Dunbar (505/835-5783i.